802.11ac wifi support

Seth Kaplan
suggested this on July 14, 2013, 4:53 PM

Given the direction wifi is heading, 802.11ac seems to be where it's at. Apple has out 802.11ac in their latest AirPort Extreme along with their MacBook Air and I'm sure all their future devices. Cisco, Netgear, Buffalo have followed suit. Long story short, 802.11ac has phenomenal range and works well over the 5ghz less cluttered/noisy spectrum and the bandwidth allocation is incredible - more than most of my hard wired network devices. I'm happy I made the swtich and I suspect over time most folks will as well. If Dropcam wants to continue to be ahead of the curve, may I suggest placing 802.11ac into their next camera iteration. I wish it could be as simple as a firmware update for my current dropcams, but sadly, I get that it won't be and I'll have to buy more. Maybe it'll create a nice secondary market for older Dropcam HD's and dropcam will revel in the success of selling a whole new line of cameras. Pretty please.

Comments

Roseboy24

802.11 ac is not matured enough for now and will take another 6-12 month for maturing 2x2 stream. Rather then 1x1 which normally all manufactering currently doing with their products, since Drop-cam HD works on latest 802.11 n small factor Railink SISO good enough for handling range and good amounts of Data for broadcasting HD /SD feeds ,So lets wait for more device comes on 802.11 ac ( I believe next iPhone surely comes on 802.11 ac :)
Meantime Enjoy 802.11 n SISO stream 65 mbps on HD dropcam :))

July 22, 2013, 1:26 PM

jkafcrocker

802.11ac operates in the 5Ghz spectrum which has a reduced range to 2.4Ghz. Considering most dropcams already have issues going beyond 30 feet, they need to stick with 2.4Ghz. My dropcam couldn't keep a connection with 5Ghz, but could intermittently at 2.4Ghz. It's frustrating to stand next to a dropcam that cannot connect watching every other device (phones, tablets, laptops) get full wifi reception. Had to buy a $43 ZyXEL WAP3205 v2 (N300) for my router 40 ft away to connect to the dropcam in my upstairs front window. Still, it's the best HD IP camera available. So worth the hassle. Just wish they could fix the range (which they'll definitely need to address for future outdoor dropcams). With Nest/Google backing, I'm very excited about what they'll come up with next.